The Underground of Happiness

And so the final part of this journey back through 2014. I've titled this bunch in favour of the Orchestral/Jazz end of the pop spectrum but there are certainly a few refugees from Dream Pop, Folk, maybe even Soul (and one showtune). Who's counting though. There are also a good number of Electronic pieces in here as promised, but more of minimalist, downtempo and/or industrial leanings. Mood wise, I think this set hangs together pretty well. Whatever, there's a lot of great music in here for sure. Just as a reminder, here are the other three parts of my 2014 Review. http://www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.ie/2014/12/best-of-2014-part-1-folkrootscountry.html http://www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.ie/2014/12/best-of-2014-part-2-soulpopjangleelectr.html http://www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.ie/2015/01/best-of-2014-part-3-psychkrautrockpunkb.html 1. Polar Bear – Two storms (Leaf) A wonderfully spacious late night saxophone ele...

Beck revisiting his work with Charlotte Gainsbourg from a few years ago (on her IRM album), in which he recruited his father David Campbell to channel the spirit of Jean-Claude Vannier, the man who added the stardust arrangements to what might otherwise have been Serge Gainsbourg’s sordid sexual psychodramas, most notably on Histoire de Melody Nelson . Here Campbell’s strings are the only backing to Beck’s flailing, drowning vocal, suggesting first a deep-sea undertow, then some kind of soaring transcendance as the end approaches. It’s a beautiful, although distinctly upsetting, piece, a mid-album emotional trough which reaches convincingly into the depths of relationship death.

A couple of other notes to add to the Serge Gainsbourg post yesterday . For anyone in the Los Angeles area, next Sunday would be a good day to get down to the Hollywood Bowl . They're throwing a special event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of SG's death , which features a mouth-watering line-up consisting of Jean-Claude Vannier conducting a full orchestra, as well as Beck, Sean Lennon, Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear), Victoria Legrand (Beach House), and others. Full details here. FFS, I think is the appropriate abbreviation. http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/tickets/performance-detail.cfm?id=4575 Funnily enough, it had passed me by that this year was the 20th anniversary of his death. But this gorgeous looking box-set release by Wrasse Records seems like another worthy tribute. Nice to see they've included 2 full CD's of his songs and scores for films in there. 20th Anniversary Box Set And finally, I also came across this fine article from the Guardian by Nick Ke...

Rejoice! The first track is now available from the upcoming third St Vincent album, Strange Mercy . The album comes out in September on 4AD . You can get your digital hands on Surgeon now in exchange for your e-mail address at http://strangemercy.com/ It features lots of woozy synths and what sound like cut-and-paste guitars, as well as the memorable opening line, " I spent the summer on my back ". It also sounds like Annie Clark has been listening to some dirty funk music since the last album. You can view some fairly strange video teasers on that site too, including one where Ms Clark, as well as several other beautiful women, deliver some of the most polite, delicious, crushing rejections ever to camera. It's disconcerting and intriguing at the same time, quite like her music actually. And to get us even more in the mood for the new album, here's the video for Laughing with a mouth of blood from her last album Actor . It showcases her irreverent brand of ...